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fool a hundred times over for yielding to him. Had she known why he insisted on attending, she would have set her men on him to hold him down by force. When they first reached home, however, the idea did not seem so unreasonable. Although Ian's knee was swollen, and he groaned dismally on getting into a hot bath, he seemed lively enough. Alinor did wonder whether his eyes were too bright, but he was taking so much pleasure in recounting the maneuvers that had saved him one time or overthrown an opponent another time that she had not the heart to bid him be still. |
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Later, she blamed herself for not recognizing the feverish activity of exhaustion. She had seen it often enough in Adam, but she did not expect it in a grown man. It carried Ian through the ride back to the castle, which he made on a quiet palfrey with his left leg hanging out of the stirrup, and through the groups that rose from their places at the tables to greet and congratulate him and to ask anxious questions about why he was using a crutch. They were rather late; the meal was on the table and half eaten, but portions were eagerly provided for them. Alinor began to have doubts when Ian would not eat, but he was still talking and laughing feverishly. When the prize was brought to him, nervous energy lifted him to his feet to make a speech of acceptance. |
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"I thank you, my lord, for the honor you have done me, and I accept this prize as a token of the far greater prize I have won. Remember, my lord, that by overthrowing those who claimed her, I have won on the field of battle God's sanction to my marriage with Lady Alinor and, more than that, His sanction, to which I am sure you will add yours, that Lady Alinor will be forever free of any forced choice of husband. If I should die tomorrow, or the day after, or even ten years, or twenty, or fifty hence, Lady Alinor, by God's will, must be free to act as she choosesto marry or not to marry, and if she marry, the man to |
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